Keeping customer service at the forefront

BY MARY JO MARTIN

Editorial director

Nearly 75 years ago, when a number of Boston-area contractors asked Wesley E. Brown Sr. -- then a salesman for Jenkins Valve -- to consider opening a supply house, he took their request to heart. In 1934, Brown founded Metropolitan Pipe & Supply Co. in Cambridge, Mass., selling Jenkins Valves, pipe and fittings in an old four-story industrial building. He found sales leads by looking for tall smoke stacks to find the boiler rooms below. With hard work and help from his knowledgeable staff, the reputation and inventory of Metropolitan Pipe grew.

Brown’s son, Wesley Jr., joined the firm in the late 1940s as an outside salesperson. He held various management positions before eventually becoming president and CEO in 1968.  He retired in 1998.

In the early 1960s the space program was rapidly growing and NASA began putting down some roots in Cambridge. These developments eventually led to the land taking that forced Metropolitan Pipe to move. Management had to make some tough decisions. Fortunately, the company had purchased another piece of land just a few blocks away and so the decision was made to build a brand new 15,000-square-foot warehouse with attached office building on Binney Street in Cambridge. This was a big move for the growing company -- but one that paid off. Now, 40 years later, Metropolitan Pipe continues to operate at the same address. Looking back, the move to a conveniently located, more modern facility was a major turning point for the company that added efficiency and provided needed space for more stocked items. The location also lends itself to doing a good amount of business over the counter.

Today, Metropolitan Pipe -- with 80 employees -- is a major supplier of pipe, valves, fittings, commercial plumbing, heating and related products to mechanical contractors, municipalities, hospitals, colleges, state agencies, wholesalers and the trades of central New England. Valves are sold to other wholesalers on a national basis. Sales are about 90% commercial.

Continuous family ownership

Still owned by the Brown family, Metropolitan Pipe is now under the executive management of Albert and Austin Brown who, along with a fourth generation of younger executives led by Kevin and Tim Brown, work continuously to exceed customer expectations. It is a work environment in which standards are high, guidelines are flexible, management is accessible, and where everyone is given the resources and encouragement to get the job done.

“We view ourselves as an extension of our customers’s organization and strive to make the customer’s jobs easier,” said executive vice president Austin Brown. “Whether it be providing technical support in choosing the right product or by providing training for installers and end-users, helping customers to set-up or reorganize stockrooms or providing stockroom replenishment services, we  seek to provide best-in-class customer service and to distribute products for the world’s best manufacturers.”

Vice president-sales Kevin Brown added, “Our vendor relationships are really partnerships. Our vendors’ training and expertise along with their top-quality products enable Met Pipe to meet and exceed customer requirements. At the same time, customer feedback assists the manufacturer in improving their products and services. Matching products with customers has led to many long-term relationships that are beneficial to the manufacturers, Met Pipe and the end-users.”

Educating inside and outside sales personnel at Metropolitan Pipe is an ongoing process. It starts with formal training classes -- held in house, at schools and at manufacturer sites -- and continues each day when employees answer questions and make suggestions to customers. A combination of formal training and extensive field experience working with customers is critical for companies that want to excel in the business of wholesaling. Product knowledge and having products available are two critical factors for success.

“The warehouse is where we fulfill our promises to our customers,” said Leo Vecchiarello. “To provide good service you need great people and then you must provide them with the right tools. One of the tools we use is the wireless handheld for order picking and receiving.  Faster, more efficient shipping and up-to-the-second inventory accuracy has been the result. Additional tools include our pipe shop where we cut, groove and thread pipe per customer specifications and forklift equipped trucks to deliver product where the customer needs it.”

Making use of technology

Technology has greatly improved Metropolitan Pipe’s service and efficiency by providing fast access to product specifications,  pricing and historical usage for inside-sales. External website portals supplement the more traditional methods of providing high-quality information to customers. Online sales account for a small percentage of sales, though for some of the products carried by Metropolitan Pipe, the internet is likely the best way to sell.

“There is no question that the way we bring products to market is evolving,” said Dave Constantine. “Technology’s role in helping to provide answers will continue to grow. Customers have come to expect near-instant access to information. Our partnerships with Eclipse software and the Eclipse Users’ Group are vital parts in the execution of our technology plans.”

Metropolitan Pipe is a member of Embassy Group Ltd., which provides the company with alliances for purchasing and the sharing of management information. According to Tim Brown, “Buying power and knowledge are short-term and long-term benefits too important to ignore.”

Going forward Metropolitan Pipe sees a bright future for the next several years in the Boston area, “The commercial market is currently very strong and there is a long list of developments still in the conceptual phase,” said Kevin Brown. “It seems like every hospital in town is doing a major renovation or new wing. All signs point to continued growth.”

Helping to fuel the commercial market is the influx of technology and pharmaceutical companies. Dave Constantine added, “Harvard and MIT anchor a true intellectual capitol in our part of the country.  All of these biopharm and tech companies gravitate to where the PHDs are.  We’re fortunate in that, unlike other industries, our universities cannot relocate.”   

President Al Brown helped sum it up: “We’ve been very prosperous as a result of having great people, great systems and an open and optimistic approach to what we do. We’ve had a great past and have positioned ourselves to have a great future.”